Plenary Session 1 - Climate Change: Risks and Solutions

Plenary Session 2 - Emerging Diseases as a Global Threat: Understanding the Resurgence

Plenary Session 3 - A world with limits: juggling development, health and ecosystem sustainability

Climate Change: Risks and Solutions

Dr Jonathan Patz, Global Environmental Health, University of Wisconsin (Madison), United States
Dr Leonora Rojas Bracho, Instituto Nacional de Ecología
Dr Mercedes Pascual, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), United States
Dr. Marilyn Aparicio Effen, National Climate Change Program, Ministry of Planning, Bolivia
Dr Carlos Corvalan, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

Dr Jonathan Patz , president of the International Association for Ecology and Health (EcoHealth), chaired a plenary session at the International EcoHealth Forum (IEF 2008) on innovative solutions to the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and humans.

Plenary speakers included Dr. Leonora Rojas from the Mexican National Institute of Ecology, Dr. Mercedes Pascual from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. Marilyn Aparicio from the Bolivian National Climate Change Program.

The science and impacts of global climate change are widely recognized. However, "many people equate global environmental change and climate change," and they are not the same thing, said Dr Patz. Climate change and other environmental events affect each other, but climate change itself is just a piece of the puzzle.

Because participants at IEF 2008 come from diverse countries and disciplines, "we get a fuller, more comprehensive assessment of the problem, and achieve more sustainable solutions," Dr Patz said. "When you bring this diverse group together, you realize that climate change can’t be viewed in isolation from [issues like] habitat fragmentation, urban sprawl, and water resources; they work together."

The three plenary speakers discussed both "site-specific impacts and some pretty innovative solutions," Dr Patz said. It is critical to present both risks and accompanying solutions to generate action when addressing climate change. "Nothing’s going to happen unless we show and demonstrate that there are solutions," Dr Patz said.

The debate around climate change is shifting to a search for solutions and "recognizing that we must change our type of energy," Dr Patz said. Accordingly, scientific assessments are now examining the collateral benefits, such as improved air quality, of reducing the use of fossil fuels.

An international effort, based out of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and in collaboration with the World Health Organization and other institutions including the EcoHealth Association, is "looking at the co-benefits from [reducing energy demand in] power generation, transportation, and the food industry." Energy efficiency in these three broad areas "will not only reduce greenhouse gases but also have immediate health benefits," Dr Patz said.

For more coverage of the discussions on climate change at IEF 2008, please visit the Climate Change Session Summary

Emerging Infectious Diseases Research: Perfect Fit for Ecohealth Approach

Dr Peter Daszak, Wildlife Trust, New York, USA
Dr James Mills, Medical Ecology Unit, Special Pathogens Branch, US Centers for Disease Control
Dr Carlota Monroy, Laboratorio de Entomologia Aplicada y Parasitologia, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala
Dr Tony Goldberg, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, USA
Dr Innocent Rwego, Makarere University, Uganda

Participants at the plenary session on Emerging Diseases as a Global Threat heard wide-ranging perspectives on the resurgence of infectious diseases across the globe.

Dr Peter Daszak, session chair and President of Wildlife Trust, said, "Much more attention needs to be given to the ecological, social, and economic factors underlying emerging diseases, as well as the impact of environmental and demographic change on them."

Dr James Mills of the US Centers for Disease Control illustrated the impact of environmental change. He proposed a number of ways that climate change can affect emerging diseases through increases in rodent populations.  

Dr Carlota Monroy of the Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala described the social and cultural factors underlying incidence of Chagas disease in poor rural populations. She also pointed to deforestation as a major factor in the increase Chagas transmission. This destroys habitat of wild vector species who migrate to the domiciliary and peri-domiciliary environment looking for new habitats and sources of food. 

Results from the Kibale Ecohealth Project presented by Dr Tony Goldberg of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, suggest that greater anthropogenic disturbance to primate habitat increases the genetic relationship between humans, primates and livestock. This, in turn, may increase disease transmission.

Dr Innocent Rwego, a veterinarian at Makerere University in Uganda, brought yet another perspective. In his studies of infectious diseases in mountain gorillas, he found that wildlife researchers and tourists play a significant role in disease transmission.

Participants asked many questions that stimulated further discussion. The process of emerging diseases is complex, said Dr Daszak. Understanding it involves studying human behaviour, social and environmental changes on a micro- and macro- scale, the ecology of wildlife, and the pathogen. "This is truly an ecohealth agenda." 

Citing the H1N1 virus as an example, Dr Daszak said while many resources are devoted to emerging infectious diseases, the amount of money expended does not yield much information. "Those who fund research do not appreciate the complexity referred to by the plenary speakers," he said. "The funding is huge but goes mainly to virology labs rather than investigations of the ecological, socio-economic, cultural and other underlying factors."

However, with the momentum of ecohealth, Dr Daszak said he foresees that that funding will go towards emerging disease research from an ecohealth perspective.

For more coverage of the discussions on emerging diseases at IEF 2008, please visit the Emerging Diseases Session Summary

“A World with Limits”: Juggling Development, Health, and Ecosystem Sustainability

Dr Donna Mergler, Université du Québec à Montréal, (UQAM), Canada
Dr Susana Padua, Institutor de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ), Brazil
Dr Jaime Breilh, Centro de Estudios y Asesoría en Salud (CEAS), Ecuador
Dr Daniel Robledo, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, México
Dr Iman Nuwayhid, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

The third plenary at the International EcoHealth Forum (IEF 2008) examined both global assessments and local examples of sustainability in the context of development, said session chair, Dr Donna Mergler. The concept of sustainability has been long debated and discussed following the 1987 Report of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission), but the practical application of sustainability remains elusive.

This plenary focused on key pillars of sustainable development–such as a resilient environment, social justice, and the economy—and their application within contradictory development strategies. Currently, said Dr Mergler, "oo many economic, geo-political, or development strategies still ignore the need to safeguard the ecosystem services on which long term development goals depend." Although peoples' lives and livelihoods are at stake, decision makers often feel pressured to move forward with inappropriate strategies that jeopardize both the environment and local communities.  However, development projects can be implemented in a manner that values both humans and ecosystems, as the panellists demonstrated in their presentations.

Dr. Suzana Padua of Brazil’s IPE described her work in environmental education and conservation research, noting the importance of community participation. She shared a number of successful projects that have balanced peoples’ livelihoods with wildlife conservation efforts.

Dr Jaime Breilh of the Centro de Estudios y Asesoría en Salud brought a global and philosophical perspective to the discussion. He introduced the concept of sustainable capacity, in which researchers incorporate knowledge of the social, cultural, and biophysical dimensions of human health while also considering ecosystem health. Both academic and indigenous perspectives must be integrated when rethinking Ecuador’s development, argued Dr Breilh. "We need to recuperate the feeling, the content, and the scale of life that the greed of large corporations has snatched away from us. In this sense, small is beautiful."

Dr Daniel Robledo of the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN illustrated the balance between sustaining livelihoods and protecting the environment. He cited the example of red seaweed cultivation, a strategy to improve coastal peoples’ lives, which has many social and economic advantages but may be associated with certain environmental impacts, as yet largely unstudied.

The discussant, Dr Iman Nuwayhid of the American University of Beirut, discussed the impact of war on the environment, health, and development. He related the long-term consequences of war, witnessed in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza, including environmental degradation, contamination, deteriorating human health, and the limitation of development possibilities.

Dr Mergler added that the presentations sparked significant discussion about the role of ecohealth and the importance of the livelihoods of local populations. There were more questions and comments than the time allowed. The discussions opened new perspectives on sustainable development and the delicate balance between economics, environment, health, and social justice. The participants "also left with innumerable ideas to implement in their own work." The future in sustainable development, as embodied in the examples presented, lies in a full understanding of the link between health and environment at both the policy- and decision-making levels.

For more coverage of the discussions on Health and Ecosystem Development at IEF 2008, please visit the Health and Ecosystem Development Session Summary